


Into The Blue

by Padfoots_Pawprint



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Best buds, Blue Lion Theory, Character Death, Drabble, M/M, blue and lance, kind of, maybe klance if you squint, quintessence battle, sorry lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-22 22:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8303332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Padfoots_Pawprint/pseuds/Padfoots_Pawprint
Summary: Every battle requires sacrifices and Keith isn't willing to make this one, even though it's not his sacrifice to make.Basically the Blue Lion Theory.





	

He was a mess and the only thing that was keeping him from screaming out was the fact that the air was saturated with the scent of blood and smoke and Keith knew that most of it wasn’t coming from him.

Zarkon’s blast had been large and catastrophic. They had only just managed to pull it away from the target planet when the beam shot forward before drawing in all kinds of light. The light hummed in the air, swallowed by the strange, diamond shaped machine in space. Stars had died before their very eyes as the machine swallowed everything.

“Quintessence,” Coran had gasped through the comms. “He’s absorbing more of it! You need to get your lions out of there before he takes their quintessence and Voltron is lost!”

Keith had worked in a flurry to keep himself from getting pulled but he’d been the closest and felt the traction within his lion with ferocious strength. He pushed forward with desperate strength, fear clawing up his throat. He would have been pulled in by the large purple hand but Lance had pushed him out of the way; Lance who, instead, was captured up, his cries drowned with static.

And now, here they were. Their lions were in wretched shape, and as Keith stumbled from his lion he could see how bad the damage was. The dents and scratches were bad, but Blue? The yellow lion had shot the machine and destroyed it, but it had been too late. She was on her side, eyes devoid of any colour. She looked completely drained but then again so did Lance. There was a cut along the side of his head that his helmet hadn’t protected him from. His short brown hair was matted with blood. Blue’s hull was a raggedy blue and some of her joints seemed awkwardly twisted, but it couldn’t compare to Lance’s expression which was the truest reflection of his lion’s condition.

“Blue, baby, don’t leave me,” he was saying with his lanky body draped over her muzzle. “Please don’t.”

Keith wanted to call out but his voice was stuck in his throat.

“Blue, come on. Gimme something. Anything. I can’t-” he sobbed harshly, “you’re all I’ve got left.”

“Lance.” Keith half thought the voice was his until he realized it was Shiro. “Lance you can’t help her. She doesn’t even have enough quintessence to function. There’s nothing left.”

“No. She can’t-” He looked at each of them hopelessly; Hunk, Shiro, Pidge. They stared back at him with no answers, only pity and sadness and empathy too. But when he looked at Keith, the beautiful blue of his eyes seem to change; desolation turned to something darker and resigned. Something was coming over him that shifted the sadness and despite all the pain, there was a bit of peace. A resolve. Lance’s hands pressed against the dented metal and Keith saw the moment Lance made his decision.

It was a bad decision.

“Idiot,” he shouted, “what are you doing?” Even though he could see exactly what Lance was planning.

“Me and Blue,” he was saying softly, “as it should be.”

“Lance.”

He was crying. Lance’s tears slid onto Blue’s muzzle and turned to a golden, blue mix. Lance’s perfect brown skin glowed a similar colour and the blue paladin choked on a sob. “This time I can fix you, bud.”

“Lance, _NO_ ,” shouted Keith struck suddenly by the reality of the situation. Lance was going to give his quintessence, his entire existence, just so Blue could continue to live; kill himself so they could still fight the Galra empire. This chance was a golden one, another shot to kill Zarkon and yet it wasn’t worth it, at least not to Keith. It wasn’t worth Lance’s life. Nothing was. “Lance!”

Lance was glowing brighter than he’d ever seen before. Though his eyes were closed, Lance’s tears still sparkled down his cheeks. Everything around him glowed like it had when Zarkon’s blaster had absorbed Blue’s quintessence. “I’m sorry, guys,” he murmured.

This was it. It had been do or die and Lance, the infuriating paladin that he was, had decided on both; eternally stubborn even now, it seemed. He was completely prepared to die and Keith scrambled; desperation to pull Lance away from the lion filled his every shaky breath. He could do this, right? Recklessly charging into battle and fighting playfully with Lance was second nature, but he could _save_ him too, couldn’t he? Keith had done it before and so he could so it again. It wasn’t fair. Lance couldn’t die. There were so many things he had to do. Zarkon wasn’t defeated yet and his family was still waiting for him, and Keith? There was so much more Keith needed to say and do. They had lives but _Lance_ actually lived his and he had more to live. This couldn’t be their fate. He’d do more, Keith vowed as one of his legs gave out. He grit his teeth and tried to get up. He’d never believed in a goddess or an otherworldly force but he prayed to them all now. He’d be better, kinder, stronger.

He’d do _anything_ to save Lance.

And yet, he never got the chance. As quiet as a gasp, Blue absorbed her paladin’s quintessence, swallowing every laugh and sparkling smile and evergreen heartbeat that he’d ever given

And Lance was gone.

 

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Into The Blue 2](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11288049) by [Shelly99](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shelly99/pseuds/Shelly99)




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